All set in Barbagia for the tenth edition of the Rally di Sardegna Mtb, from 28 to 31 August. Mountain bikes will return to the narrow roads, paths, woods and mountain refuges. The stages will start from Aritzo, Desulo and Seulo and will touch Tonara, Sadali, Seui, Gadoni. About sixty bikers will start. Among them the former Marathon world champion Periklis Ilias, two-time Olympic champion and current "king" of Greece, but also the London 2012 Olympic champion, Jaroslav Kulhavy. There will be Diego Rosa, Italian Marathon 2023 champion, and Alexey Medvedev, two-time European champion, together with his teammates from the DMT Racing Team, Mattia Toccafondi and Peter Menghetti. Among the registered are also Monica Calderon, winner of three races this year, and Claudia Peretti, fresh from a double Italian title and bronze at the very recent Marathon European Championships.
In the prologue 12.6 km time trial (500 mt difference in altitude) up to Texile and then through Belvì and back to Aritzo. Sunday 70.7 km route between Desulo and Tonara. The difference in altitude is 2500 meters. The second stage is also challenging, with departure and return to the Seulo sports field, passing through the woods of Sadali and Seui: 66.9 km, for a difference in altitude of 2,300 meters. The athletes will finally return to Barbagia di Belvì for the last stage, a final rush of 48.3 km with 1,800 meters of difference in altitude, with departure and arrival in Aritzo crossing the mountains of Gadoni. In the last edition, that of 2022, the Rally di Sardegna MTB was won by the Colombian (but resident in Gorizia) Diego Alfonso Arias Cuervo, followed by the Cypriot Andreas Miltiadis while the third step of the podium was occupied by the Italian Silvano Brugiafreddo.
With the athletes about 600 presences in a period considered "off season" for the most internal territories. Satisfied the regional councilor for Tourism Franco Cuccureddu according to whom the rally «has the particularity of turning the spotlight of the fans of this sport on the internal areas of Sardinia, less known than our coasts but equally suggestive and fascinating».
(Online Union)
